Yoshi-P: "...the future of the Japanese game industry isn't that bright..."

Pretty insightful comments from Yoshi-P in the latest Live Letter, and probably the first time I've seen a Japanese game developer express a feeling that western studios were producing superior games.

But I kinda disagree with him. I do likes me some Fallout or Witcher, but I still think today's JRPGs are better than western RPGs, and FFXIV is the best MMORPG out there today (but that's damning with faint praise).

whaaat?? I LOVE their games.

Been a fan of the FF series since SNES! and to hear that makes me sad because I think they're doing an awesome job! and I'm not just talking about SE. The lore, the graphics and character designs... I love it all and never liked anything I played that was made in western studios (from FPS to RPG's...I don't know what it is but no game got me hooked and pulled me in like JRPG's do. *shrugs*)

thats just my opinion though.

It's because they've shifted focus to trying to please the western playerbase..basically lost their way in a sense.

The problem with japan is back in the day they made games for their home audience and we got them as a by-product of that. Now the japanese audience has gone full on mobile (see TGS) which caused the larger devs to start making games for a western audience which never really worked. Look at FFXIII and Resident Evil 6 for examples.

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Originally Posted by Tupsi

It's because they've shifted focus to trying to please the western playerbase..basically lost their way in a sense.

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I think you're absolutely right. I hope the success of games like Bravely Default and Xenoblade Chronicles helps them come to their senses.

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Originally Posted by Eekiki

Pretty insightful comments from Yoshi-P in the latest Live Letter, and probably the first time I've seen a Japanese game developer express a feeling that western studios were producing superior games.

But I kinda disagree with him. I do likes me some Fallout or Witcher, but I still think today's JRPGs are better than western RPGs, and FFXIV is the best MMORPG out there today (but that's damning with faint praise).

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There's actually been a tidal wave of Japanese developers in the last 5 years expressing that western developers have overtaken, among them Keiji Inafune and Hideo Kojima.

I agree with you, and not them - I've always very strongly preferred Japanese games, such as Final Fantasy and everything from Nintendo. Although I do like Bethesda a lot, I still prefer the style of FF when it comes to RPG.

I find it interesting. I really got into video games through JRPGs, but nowadays I do find myself really interested in western rpgs. I think the western ones allow for more character customization and many (Dragon Age, for example) are delivering on fantastic stories at the same time. FF is still a series I'm always going to pay attention to, but I do see what he's saying.

Still, my fondest memories of games when I was younger were FFX and Tales of Symphonia. Hopefully they can bring back that magic, at least for me anyway.

Some of the best times I've had with gaming is with JRPGs on my PS3. Ni no kuni, Valkryie Chronicles. Tales series, Persona 4 and kingdom hearts come to mind. I also loved The world ends with you, professor layton, trauma center, Etrian Odyssey, Shin megami Tensei, Chrono Trigger and of course the FF series (IV and VI especially) on the DS. I don't really understand why Yoshi would say that and I hope they don't stop producing these awesome games.

While many of us would appear to love JRPGs and their ilk I have to wonder how much of the potential market we represent. I could play games like Valkyria Chronicles for the rest of my days but I know most of my game-playing friends wouldn't touch it with a shitty stick.

The only reason I find myself preferring WRPGs to JRPGs these days is there is faaaaar too much angst in JRPGs. That and for some reason, localisation on a lot of them is absolutely horrible, which for an RPG good translations are important.